Monday, January 19, 2009

The scarf grows on

I started classes last week. I'm taking beer brewing and jewelry making courtesy of the University of Vermont. I was never a big fan of beer in college, but Vermont seems ot have microbreweries every three feet, and I've developed an appreciation. As with anything I like or appreciate, I always want to learn to make myself.And in a few weeks my Master Gardener course will start, and the I'll be really busy.

For now, I'm just trying to get to knit every other night or so. I have another 6-12 inches to go on Matt's scarf. I forgot how monotonous a scarf can get, so to amuse myself, I knit the first of a pair of Saartje's Bootees. I figure that between my sister and two pregnant friends, odds are that one will have a girl. I wanted to take pictures for this post, but I lost my camera. I spent about 10 minutes "running" up and down the stairs trying to find it, but it will probably take Matt looking somewhere I checked multiple times to find it.

Speaking of which, I can start running this week according to my PT schedule. The past week has been so cold that I've been in a mild state of hibernation. I'm too stingy to turn the heat up much, and it was so cold, that it never seemed to get warmer than 62. Being that cold, and under that many blankets, has for some reason, never been a good motivator to get to the gym. I'm sure my physical progress hasn't been exceptional. But I don't care, because I can know walk to down stairs!
I don't know if I'm really ready for the running with my lack of physical activity in the last week, but I guess I'll find out at PT today.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Post Christmas Craziness

I'm back:
To Vermont.
To driving.
To work.
To Physical Therapy.
To making Matt dinner :)

During the holidays, we spent our time in Western MA among family and friends. It was nice to see everyone, but it is also nice to sleep in my own bed again; to make my own meals and keep my kitty smothered with attention to keep her from meowing and yowling (The brief attentions of my friend who took care of her while were away were not adequate.) And Myha is quite the yowler.

While I was so close to Northampton, I took the opportunity to pass a few blissful hours in the bowels of WEBS. The most exciting purchase was this:
Which I will start working to turn into this soon. And as much as it hurts my head to purchase the exact yarn used...I fell a bit in love with the purple. It has flecks of pinkish-ness and blueish-ness all over. Love, love, love.

And bonus, the awesome in-laws got me the ball wonder I've been on the precipice of buying myself for a good solid year. So I won't have to wind all sevens skeins by hand. And after the knotted mess that was the Purewool after my poor attempt the wind by hand, I feel deserving of the amazingness.
So have I been knitting anything at all in the meantime?

Little bit.

I'm working on Smariek's Triumph scarf pattern for Matt. This is the first thing I will ever finish knitting for him, so I'm working on it exclusively to make sure I finish before Spring and before I get distracted by the Tilted Duster and multiple baby projects that are piling up.

His request was for Celtic Knots, but I didn't find any patterns that appealed to me (in scarf form at least) and Triumph has some intricate cables that I figure is close enough. What I lack in actual pattern content, I will make up in pure number of times I have to use the cable needle....

Plus, I've been eyeing/queuing/printing Smariek's patterns for a long time, I just never seemed to be able to start a project with any of her beautiful, cable-y creations.

And the yarn is Laines Du Nord Cashsilk, which is half merino, and a quarter of each silk and cashmere. A great yarn to work with on a single project, for sure.